Went 3-1 at FNM. Beating; Hollow One, Burn and Storm. Lost to Naya Zoo.

Favourite play of the night was against Burn Game 3. Both of us on 3 life. My board was a direfleet daredevil, noble hierarch and aether Vial on 2. Both of us were topdecking and I was praying my opponent didn’t top deck a Burn spell and I could swing with an exalted Daredevil the following turn. Sure enough my opponent pulled a lightning bolt off the top. I saw no reason to crack a horizon canopy, sure enough I drew a deputy of acquittals and was able to flash it in, return the Daredevil to my hand, Vial him in and use another burn spell to deal 3 damage and win. My opponent was not happy!

Round 3 vs RB Hollow One 2-1
Exceptionally close games with the victor being on 1-2 more life than opponent. This match was with a good friend and it was his first time out with the deck. Great playing games on a knife edge - games definitely could’ve gone either way in any of the games.

Round 4 vs Sultai Eldrazi Aggro 0-2
First time playing this kind of deck, made a lot of misplays. Even without the misplays this feels a very tough match up. One positive was double phantasmal image copying reality smasher. This glee only lasted a turn as they died to the activated ability of drowner of hope - which sucked.

thoughts

really enjoyed deputy of acquittals. Added a different edge to the deck and also helped me not go into topdeck mode as I was able to recycle creatures. Also very useful when blocking. Will probably cut down to 2.

I am currently testing 1 Orzhov pontiff in my mainboard. Someone responded saying that it is often too narrow, but I personally feels it depends on your meta. If you face a lot of decks where giving -1/-1 (or even -2/-2 by blocking and haunting) to your opponents team can make a big difference then I think it is worth consideration. Also being able to screw combat maths in your favour when attacking is useful application of the card. Especially as I am testing deputy of acquittal, which makes it even more interesting if you have a Vial on 3!

That said, I had it in my sideboard for a long time along with a single izzet Staticaster. The reason for having one each was sometimes I really wanted to destroy the entire opponents board (I.e. mardu pyromancer), rather than just target a specific weenie with Staticaster.

I think I may try a single mirran crusader, but want to try the new addition (pontiff) first. My FNMs have a very wide range of decks, but with regulars running; Affinity, Elves, Goblins, Mardu Pyromancer, Vizier Company, mono-white allies and Merfolk I’m hoping that it will prove useful. Also found that everyone knows what the deck does, so attacking with a Vial on 3 means the opponent won’t be expecting a board pump. Whereas a Vial on 2 will lead most opponents to think that an Image or Thalia is available.

Yer I agree with what you are saying, hence my comment that the manabase would need work. The alternative option would be to drop Ziggurat in favour of city of brass/mana confluence. The life loss may hurt a bit, but will it hurt more than Bob?

My current list has 2 dark Confidant in the main because of the meta. It’s great, but I was wondering if there was a better option for ensuring we don’t end up topdecking. One of the benefits of lead the stampede is it means that more than one Vial aren’t redundant.

Based on your comment about CoCo, do you think there is scope for it? Or is it over complicating an already successful deck?

After some months of not being able to log into my account I’ve finally managed to get in!

Had recent success with this deck, two 4-0 at FNMs and a 3-2-1 finish at 35+ tournament.

Had so many responses to queries/comments but will try and keep it brief:

gaddock teeg / selfless spirit
I appreciate the comments that casting these creatures may be tricky, but I haven’t once had this problem and the cards have been invaluable in my sideboard. Dropping a gaddock teeg on turn 2 vs Tron is exceptionally helpful (and has recently won me a couple of games). Also vialling in a selfless spirit in response to a board wipe normally wins the game. For now I will be keeping a singleton copy of each in my sideboard.

tactics: Elves and Gx-Tron
Similarity to previous comments, any turn 2 and 3 disruption has really helped me in these match ups. Particularly against elves vialling an orzhov pontiff or izzet Staticaster in response to a CoCo seems to have a good effect if it can’t be played earlier. I did manage to beat G-Tron without any disruption, but had an exceptionally fast clock and was able to race them before they could play anything reasonable. However in this match I counted myself very lucky as the opponent had both Karn and Ugin in hand.

Having watched recent GP match ups and my own findings, I often find that if the match up starts to get grindy the Human pilot pretty much relies on topdecks. I therefore wondered if the following configuration has some legs?

Ok, so the major changes are a slight adjustment to the land base and the introduction of lead the stampede. Before people suggest I’m mad, I think it is worthy of consideration and shouldn’t be too hard to achieve. I think the mana base may need some more work, but in theory we have 11 sources that can produce G. Assuming we aren’t playing against UW/Grixis Control it is unlikely that the spell will be countered, and refilling our hand at turn 3/4 is pretty appealing. Obviously an argument could be made, that if I’m considering lead the stampede, why aren’t I prioritising Collected Company? My argument is simple, if we have an aether Vial active, potentially drawing 4-5 creatures and being able to play the one we need, is a better play than hitting two random off the top. I’m open to discussion though and want to hear if others have considered this route, or even tested it.

If people are trialling new one drops, could sage of epityr be a consideration. Obviously doesn’t enable the draw like thraben inspector does, but stacking your deck could be really relevant in some matches. Anyone got any thoughts...?

Round 1 vs Gruul Wolves
Felt really sorry, as this person has only just started playing magic and was relatively new to deckbuilding. Won both games on turn 4 I think. Tried to help them out (with a few other more experienced players) on deck building etc.

Both games were really tough, but I always felt in a really strong position with early threats.

round 3 vs Abzan Company
This is the deck I usually play so felt pretty confident with my game plan. Game 1 I played 2 Freebooters taking CoCo and Chord. Waited until they hard cast their devoted Druid before bouncing with a reflector Mage. Manage to stall them long enough while making my dudes larger and larger until I swung for lethal with the Freebooters.

Round 3 vs Naya Zoo
Game 1 was literally a race. Can’t remember how I won but I know that I was on 1 life.... very risky. I think I had a couple of mantis rider and reflector Mage on the board when the game ended.

Game 2 I was really glad I had auriok Champion as this card single handily won me the game.intrepid hero was also useful for getting rid of some big ass threats. Managed to keep myself out of lightning bolt range by constantly jamming creatures, while forcing my opponent to keep playing blockers. When it turned into topdeck mode I won out with mantis rider.

Thoughts
Had an absolute blast playing the deck and probably the best magic I’ve ever played.
Realise some of my card choices may seem a bit off, but wanted to try some stuff out becaus I don’t have phantasmal image and somehow lost one of my thalia, guardian of thraben . anafenza, the foremost in the main is due to several Dredge and Grisalbrand players in my meta. Combat Celebrant was never seen, and unsurprisingly, wouldn’t have been worth it anyway.... always willing to give stuff a go though. Probably going to drop this for either fourth reflector Mage or kessig malcontents.
Although I own dismember I wanted to try something different for hard removal. Was toying with the idea of big game hunter but opted for the reusable ability of intrepid hero and found it surprisingly good.... whether I keep it in the deck I am unsure.
Will probably look to try kessig malcontents and dire fleet daredevil.... during the Zoo and DS match up I think it would’ve been a god send.

Really interesting list... how’ve you found your changes against humans and Ponza?

My list below, but haven’t had chance to test yet. Ironically I normally play Abzan Company or Humans, but I’ve had a lot of the cards for Liege for sometime. My sideboard is creature heavy based on the slightly more “toolbox” nature of my list.

Assuming that we are most likely to be the aggressor and want lots of creatures on the board, can we be exceptionally greedy and play both; dark Confidant and descendants path?

That logic in the argument above, would it be worth considering combat celebrant? I appreciate that it seems “win-more” but it may have some advantages. Can be played as early as turn 2 (admittedly slightly more taxing on mana - but we already play mantis rider) and if left unchecked could be a game ender, or enable us to apply really strong early game pressure. What are people’s thoughts?

I realise the chance of achieving the above are slim and rely on a good number of creatures and no removal. However, is 1-2 worth consideration?! Happy to be shot down but want some sound justification.

Went 2-2 at last nights FNM with the list I posted on the previous page. Had a cracking time, misplayed a fair bit, but not that fussed as first time playing the deck and learnt a lot.

Round 1 vs Mono-white weeniesGame 1 - We both managed to stick a lot of creatures on the board, but a timely meddling Mage naming path to exile, before dumping two mantis riders tipped the balance in my favour.Game 2 - had a much faster clock than my opponent and a turn 2 mantis rider with exalted triggers got me there very quickly.

Round 2 vs Bant DelverGame 1 - had an opening hand of land and 4 meddling Mage. Didn’t know what the opponent was playing so mulled, keeping a much more reasonable hand. However there was nothing I could do against several Goyfs, cryptic command and tamiyo, field researcher.Game 2 - opponent managed to flip two delvers very early, then Goyfs then cryptic command. Felt on the back foot in both games, although my opponent felt it would be a bad match up for them - assuming I played pretty badly...

Round 3 vs DredgeGame 1 - very close game, but found myself in a tricky situation... named conflagarate with meddling Mage, but hadn’t noticed scourge devil in the graveyard with my opponents better board state.Game 2 - got a few creatures down early, followed by some timely mantis rider and reflector Mage, bouncing narcomoeba to ensure no blockers.Game 3 - as we started time on the round run out. Felt I had a very explosive hand, but my opponents turn 3 Conflagrate took out all my humans. Never recovered and lost on turn 5.

Will continue to play the deck, but think I may drop the auriok Champion from the list for either something more explosive, or more disruptive. I felt that 3 thalia, guardian of thraben was the right number and probably won’t look to get the fourth.

As for other comments, as I’ve only tested the deck once I will wait until I get more games under my belt before making further suggestions/changes. Overall - great fun!